Chapter I
"Tick tock, it's party o'clock!" the alarm buzzed. It repeated the same tune, increasingly becoming more irritating, which it already was.
"Leslie, why the hell is that your alarm sound?" Ann spoke from the other room. "I can hear that crap down the hall."
"I'm sorry," I replied. "I'm not sure why I have it either, but it works, doesn't it?" I smiled. I needed something annoying to wake me up each morning. I hated missing mornings; I loved them with all my heart. Plus, I'd be very disoriented if I got more than four and a half hours of sleep. My life has become very accustomed to a life of few amounts of sleep and overworking myself. I jumped out of bed and started brewing a cup of coffee. I grabbed a mug, poured the coffee and sprayed an unhealthy amount of whipped cream on it. Ann came walking out of her room and sat at the table.
"Annnnnnnnnn!" I complained. "Can you make us waffles?"
She groaned. "I suppose so, but I need to leave for work soon. The hospital is making most of the nurses come in earlier for some reason. I think training or something." She got up and grabbed the waffle iron and mix as I shifted papers around on the table to make room for plates, and put them all in the bag near my feet. Ann came back, sat across the table and noticed my bag.
"What's in there?" she pointed with her foot.
"It's just stuff for work. Pictures of parks, paintings I've made to help liven up the hallways." I responded with a sigh.
"So you're still working for Parks and Rec?"
"I suppose I am, but Ron said that I needed an indefinite amount of time off."
"So...you were fired? Suspended?" Ann looked puzzled and concerned.
"I dunno, but it's given me time to find new hobbies out of boredom," I started, but as I spoke I started to feel disgusted with myself. "Ugh, just saying that made me feel uneasy. This is driving me up the wall!" I sulked in my chair, groaning, and repeatedly tapped my head on the table.
"Well, it hasn't been that long. I'm sure you'll adjust." Ann took my empty coffee mug to the sink while she pulled out the waffles from the iron and I left the table to get dressed. When I came back, she wasn't there. Must be in the shower, I thought to myself. Oh jeez, it's 7:45! I gotta go for a run. I laughed to myself; I was kidding about the running thing. I wanted to look appealing to you readers, to look like I spent my time off doing something constructive, to keep in shape. I was about to run out the door, but I forgot that Ann made waffles.
"I'm taking these waffles you made, Ann! And the whipped cream cans!" I expected a response, but only heard running water down the hall. "Alright, bye Ann! See you later and I hope you don't have to pull something strange out of someone's butt at work!" I shouted, and then ran out the door.